Sports

Pavelka paces Spits past Hounds

The combination of an ice-cold start and the opposition's red-hot goalie proved a poisonous mix for the Soo Greyhounds Friday.

Despite playing 40 strong minutes, while out-chancing the visitors by a wide margin, the Hounds dropped a 5-3 decision to the Windsor Spitfires before 4,518 at Essar Centre.

The loss was the fourth straight for the Greyhounds (18-19-2-2), who dropped into a tie with the Spitfires (19-19-3-1) for sixth place in the Ontario Hockey League's Western Conference.

By virtue of a 4-3 shootout loss to Niagara, the fifth-place Owen Sound Attack (18-17-2-3) improved its points total to 41, one more than the Soo and Windsor.

"We got out-worked in our own building for the first 20 minutes," said Hounds head coach Mike Stapleton, whose club trailed 2-0 after the opening period. "But give full credit to Windsor. They came out hard."

"We played a 40-minute game when there's 60 minutes," added Hounds centre Nick Cousins, who scored twice in the second period to help spark his club's comeback attempt.

After a turnover led to Ben Johnson's short-handed goal at the :09 mark of the middle frame and a 3-0 Spits lead, Cousins went to work.

His skill and creativity led to a power-play marker, with an assist going to Gianluca Curcuruto, just 23 seconds later.

Nine minutes after that, Cousins deposited the rebound from a Curcuruto point shot past Jaroslav Pavelka to trim the Spits lead to 3-2.

But try as they might to draw even, the Hounds were thwarted by the play of the visiting netminder.

"He's probably been our biggest surprise," Spits head coach Bob Boughner said of the 18-year-old Pavelka, who made several outstanding saves with the game's outcome in the balance. "Every day, every game, he's gotten better. They out-chanced us, but Pavelka kept us in."

The native of Hradec Kralove, Czech Republic, robbed Brandon Alderson in front with just under three minutes to go in the second period.

He followed up with back-to-back saves on Michael Schumacher scoring attempts.

After David Elsner rang a blast off the iron in the final frame, Pavelka robbed Carson Dubchak on a rebound attempt in front of the Windsor goal.

He also turned back Cousins, who was driving to the net while killing a penalty.

And with the score 4-3 Windsor, Pavelka turned aside Brett Findlay on a breakaway with just 1:40 left in regulation.

"He (Pavelka) made the saves and got them two points," said Stapleton, whose club entertains Guelph tonight in a 7:35 p.m. Essar Centre start.

With 35 points, the Storm (15-17-2-3) stands ninth in the conference.

"He stood on his head and was the difference maker," added Hounds winger Corey Durocher.

"For us to get to the playoffs, we need guys to step outside of their boundaries," said Boughner, whose club snapped a five-game losing skid. "We need standout performances and he (Pavelka) did that for us tonight."

Chris Marchese scored power-play and even-strength goals in the opening frame to put the Spits ahead to stay.

Leading 3-2, Kerby Rychel banged a rebound past Hounds goalie Matt Murray to make it 4-2 seven minutes into the final period.

While killing a penalty, Alderson cut around the Windsor defence and beat Pavelka through the five-hole to trim the Spits lead to 4-3 at the 13:23 mark.

But with Cousins idle, the result of a 10-minute misconduct with 7:50 to go in regulation, the Hounds comeback fell short.

Saverio Posa, who also had two assists and was a standout, notched an empty-netter with 1:04 to play to complete the scoring.

"It's disappointing - he's our best player," Stapleton said of the Cousins misconduct. "He didn't say much (to the referee), but he should know better."

"I take full responsibility," Cousins said. "I can't be doing that. I let our team down."

Notes: Injured Hounds defenceman Ryan Sproul, who suffered a fractured jaw on Dec. 28 and underwent surgery one day later, was in attendance at the game.

Sproul returned to the Sault from his home in Mississauga, where he's been recuperating.